Blue Eyes
by Snows Of Yester-Year
Summary: When Zuko wanders off one night, Katara follows him. As Zuko slips into feelings of self loathing and despair, Katara reaches out to him. Zutara oneshot


A/N: Here it is, Ross. Happy?

I wrote a Zutara. -headdesk- I _wrote _a _Zutara._ AH! What is this world coming to?!

Typically I wouldn't touch Zutara with a ten-foot pole (I am _vehemently _Kataang) but...Ross won. Evil, evil person. (j/k, Ross...) This was actually kind of fun to write...in a masochist kind of way. Never again...

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. At all. Duh.

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Zuko glared across the campfire and into the trees. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't freaking believe it. He had joined the Avatar – willingly! He still couldn't pinpoint the exact moment his judgment lapsed enough for him to let the guilt get to him, but he knew why it happened.

It was that damn Waterbender.

When she broke down in front of him in the tunnels under Ba Sing Se, he had felt his hard heart soften – just a little. Remembering his own mother, he had felt her pain, sympathizing with her. Incredible.

And then she offered to fix his scar! He was still convinced that it wouldn't have worked, but still, she had offered to help him – _him, _after he had chased them for so long, after making their lives a living hell, she willingly offered to help him. Such a form of caring and forgiveness he had never known – well, not since his mother, anyway.

Then, when he betrayed her, the look in her eyes served as a harder blow then anything his sister had thrown at him over the years. The hurt, the anger, the sorrow…they forged a deadly dagger that cut into his soul, trying to carve his heart out. Oh, but his melodramatic episode didn't end there. For days – weeks! – her eyes haunted his dreams, asking him, _Why did you do it?_

Zuko felt his heart wrench at the thought. Why, he asked himself. What would he gain in the end? Honor? No guarantees. As he's had more and more time to meditate on the situation, he has found himself wondering why in the hell he was stupid enough to trust Azula. Chances were good she would betray him again.

_Stupid, _he mentally berated himself. _Stupid, stupid, stupid._

Of course, it didn't matter now. All was forgiven, or at least agreed to be overlooked for an extended period of time. He and his uncle were here with the Avatar, and Zuko had a second chance with the Waterbender that had shown him some of the first kindness he had seen in an age.

Like he would take the initiative, of course. But it was the principle of having that hope hovering there that kept him…well, hopeful.

He sighed heavily, pushing his black hair out of his eyes. Stupid hair. Stupid feelings. Stupid Azula. Stupid war.

And those stupid damned blue eyes!

He pushed himself up off the ground. "I'm going for a walk," he grumbled, storming off into the trees completely oblivious to the footsteps that trailed his after a moment.

As he walked, he remembered when he and Uncle Iroh had joined the Avatar. It was by pure dumb luck that they stumbled across the Avatar and his companions. Iroh managed to break up the fight that ensued by assuring the Avatar that they were his allies and offering to instruct him in Firebending. Zuko was dead set against this; leaving his sister in Ba Sing Se was one thing, but joining the Avatar was a whole other game altogether. But eventually, Iroh won out, and the two were officially a part of "Team Avatar," as the idiot with the boomerang put it.

So here he was in the company of someone who was supposed to be his enemy and yet not attacking him. He left his sister for the Avatar, and just because he couldn't believe he was saying it, he'll say it again: _he left his ally for his enemy._

There was enough irony there to write a freaking poem.

He continued walking until he reached a river. He looked up and down the waterway but could see no place to cross. With a defeated sigh, he dropped down onto the bank of the river, staring into its' swirling currents.

"Are you okay?"

Zuko turned to see the Waterbender hovering nervously a few feet away. He turned back to the river and said softly, "I'm fine."

She made her way slowly to where he sat, sitting down beside him. "You sure?"

"_Yes,_" he snapped, glaring down at her.

Katara fell silent, staring at the river before returning her eyes to him, her sapphire gaze imploring him to open himself to her. "Please," she whispered, "tell me the truth."

He turned briefly to glare at her, his amber glare cutting through her. "Why do you care?"

She frowned. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because I was the enemy," he said, looking back at the river. "Because I betrayed you. Because – " _Because I hurt you. _If only he could say it, but some distorted mixture of pride and anger and fear kept those words locked away in his own private musings.

She touched his arm. "Because…what?"

"Nothing," he muttered curtly, jerking his arm away. He continued to stare intently at the river, trying his damnedest to ignore the fact that she was still watching him. After what seemed like hours (but was in reality a matter of minutes), her voice breeched his thoughts again.

"Why would that matter?"

He jerked around to look at her. Was she _insane_? "Why would that _matter? _Spirits, is that an actual _question? _Because after that, most people wouldn't so much as look at me without trying to kill me, forget about asking if I was _alright! _Because I don't want or need or so much as _deserve _your sympathy, and you offer it anyway! Because I have done absolutely nothing to gain any kind of kindness from you, but you show it to me regardless! Because – because you actually act like I'm not worthless, _Agni only knows **why**!_"

He turned curtly from her, glaring at the river. But shaking her off would not be so easy. She circled around to face him, her eyes blazing in anger. "Worthless? _That's _what you think of yourself? One mistake does not equate to a lifetime of isolating yourself from others because you think that no one cares about you or _wants _to care about you! Well, let me tell you something, Zuko – you _aren't _worthless! I care because I don't like seeing you or anyone hurt! I care because I want, more then anything, to _help!_" She reached out, her fingers brushing his cheek just below his scar. The contact was like a shock, prompting the boy to jerk away, more from surprise then anything else. Katara allowed her hand to fall, her eyes breaking away from his and focusing on the ground.

"I only want to help you…"

He heard her voice break, and saw a glimmer slip from her eye to her cheek. When he realized that she was crying, he proceeded to panic. "Hey – what are you doing? Would you knock it off! There's nothing for you to cry about, now come on!"

She took a deep, ragged breath and lifted up a hand to push away the tear before forcing a sad smile at him. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just being silly." She pushed herself to her feet, still wearing her forced smile. "You don't want me hanging around here. I'll just go back to the camp now."

Zuko stood. "Katara –"

"_It's okay,_" she said, smiling. "It was my fault. I was being too – "

"Would you shut it?" he snapped, cutting her off. "I don't want you gone. You just startled me, that's all."

"Sorry," she murmured, glancing at the ground.

"Oh, stop apologizing," Zuko grumbled, dropping back to the ground. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Katara took her seat next to him, studying his profile. Her eyes traced his scar sadly, studying every aspect of the mark. "Does it hurt?"

He glanced at her before returning his gaze forward. "Not really. Not anymore."

She lowered her eyes again. "I'm sorry I didn't heal it."

"Don't apologize," he said. "You don't even know if it would have worked. Besides, if you had used the water on me, the Avatar would be dead."

"I guess…"

When the silence between the two had gone on too long, Zuko sighed heavily and turned to face her. "For what it's worth," he grumbled, "that's one of the nicest things anyone's ever done for me."

She blinked, surprised. "I didn't even heal it though."

"Well, you offered. And…" _Say it, you jerk. _"Th-thank you."

She watched him for a few moments before a genuine smile broke across her face. Then, before Zuko had figured out what had happened, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before returning to her previous position, leaving a very surprised prince to continue evaluating the water…only now he couldn't really see the water. He turned to stare at her, but she didn't acknowledge him. She simply smiled up at the moon.

He turned back to the water. Damn her blue eyes; they had made him fall in love with her.


End file.
